To clarify, I share the road where appropriate. I prefer wide lanes. I enjoy well designed paths. But there are situations where the road is simply too narrow to share.

And in my part of California, those roads are exactly where communities often install “Share the Road” signs. Last Friday, I mentioned two populations with different views on “Share the Road” signs — cyclists and drivers. How about a third population: traffic engineers? To them, perhaps “Share the Road” means “This road is too narrow to share.”

This (non standard) “Be Courteous Share the Road” sign, for example, is a couple of hundred yards from my home. It depicts a car sharing space alongside a bicycle but is posted on a lane that is too narrow for safe sharing.

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The other interesting traffic engineer concept is that yellow/orange tilted square signs indicate hazards, yet the bike sign is often that type. Are they trying to say that a cyclist is a hazard in the road?

I really like the “Bikes Use Full Lanes” signs. I think that message is most clear and gives motorists a more clear view of what is expected of THEM. When I take up the entire lane it is typically because to do otherwise would invite motorists to pass too closely.

On my morning commute there is a four lane divided “parkway” with a 30 mph speed limit. It passes through an office park and has sporadic clusters of traffic. I would guess that every two or three minutes a cluster of four to six cars pass going the same direction. That’s pretty light traffic in my book.

I used to stay far right, but despite having a left-hand passing lane I was continually getting buzzed and honked at. Finally I started taking the full right lane and the incidents of getting buzzed have almost vanished. I still have the occasional enlightened individual who screams at me to get on the sidewalk, but they do it from the left lane.

3) Bicycle May Use Full Lane
For locations where it is important to inform road users that the travel lanes are too narrow for bicyclists and motor vehicles to operate side by side.
“R4 type” – Movement Regulation Color – Black & White

4) BMUFL May be used on roadways where no bicycle lanes or adjacent shoulders usable by bicyclists are present and where travel lanes are too narrow for bicyclists and motor vehicles to operate side by side.*

May be used in locations where it is important to inform road users that bicyclists might occupy the travel lane.*